Crystals have played a role in my life for many years, before Goop began infusing water bottles with rose quartz and Instagram #witchgram tags started tapping on the shoulders of the general population.
As far as I recall, my first dabbling in Wicca and Witchcraft was with my childhood best friend in Texas. I think her mother was a witch. While she was a surgeon by trade, much of her free time centered around botany. For her, this meant catching butterflies and other critters that she found on her sprawling wild property, meticulously pinning them onto boards as a hobby, studying them and treasuring them. She named each, engraving this by hand onto plaques, with the date of its capture and the geo-coordinates of its final home. Perhaps this was simply a way of sharpening her fine moneymaking surgeon motor skills, but I also remember the importance she placed upon moon cycles. She seemed to worship this mysterious sphere. If her garden and oil collection may serve as any indicator, she was a green witch.
My friend, the daughter of a witch, and I dabbled in pagan productions together at a young coming-of-age, not really knowing what we were doing nor having much of an idea of why. The both of us tended to shy away from outdoor mobility in the normal scope of our lives, but we sated our curiosity and energy as children by chasing grasshoppers, gathering stones, making candles, and creating runes in the dirt. Later in life, we would become more conscious of these inclinations. We began dabbling in spells and dressing ceremoniously to conduct our chants. A birthday comes to mind in which she was gifted a Ouija board. In her basement, we summoned the spirit of the woman who had lived there half a century prior, who had hanged herself. She and I both don’t speak much of this experience, but we both know what we encountered and we carry that energy with us still. We experienced the funnelling of power.
I no longer channel any attention to calling onto spirits of the past or the future (except for the times in which I do…), but Wicca has been a solitary practice of mine for years, in varying forms and degrees. It is my honouring of nature and life. It is my gratitude for the goodness that I have been granted. It is my way of centring and grounding my senses, to coming back to my roots as a human that is able to create, work, love, and exist in harmony with my surroundings, whatever or wherever they may be: from the chaos and pollution of urban dwelling to the calm of wide open Texan landscapes.
Crystals have played a role in my life for many years, before Goop water bottles infused with rose quartz and Instagram #witchgram tags started tapping on the shoulders of the general population. The use I personally find in crystals is my own relation to the intentions I store within them. Their physical form serves as a representation of the thoughts, desires, hopes, and changes I wish to see in my life. If I am hoping for a romantic encounter, I carry around a rose quartz ‘round my neck. When I feel it, I am reminded of this desire. I pull my shoulders back and may feel more drive to approach the stylish man (or woman) I see crossing the street. If I wish for protection, I carry the strong onyx in my pocket on a bike ride to the office. The remembrance of it may have me rethinking running a red light. These reminders work. I find that having crystals around me also spurs on conversations with those that see them. It further reiterates my intentions into the universe, which brings the thought into my actual reality and the surroundings of others. This little intention of mine now exists openly in the universe as a tangible object. I am respecting my wishes. Others are holding them accountable.
Below I will be sharing a number of crystals I have used, with which I have found success. And honestly, if crystals and stones just do not work for you, you may use other objects in their place. You make the rules! It is a personal relationship. At the end of the day, a crystal can still be a beautiful asset, regardless of the wishes you find coming true or not, so you are never at a loss.
